Speaker encourages teachers

By age 9, children in under-resourced school districts are already three to four years behind their higher-income peers, the founder of Teach for America said Thursday in a speech.\nAstonishing statistics such as these had a profound impact on Wendy Kopp, Teach For America's founder and president, who discussed "The New Social Entreprenuerialism" and the program she founded.\nTeach for America is a national program that places a diverse group of more than 1,000 college graduates in two-year teaching positions. They are placed each year in 15 of the United States' most under-resourced rural and urban communities. These areas range from South Central Los Angeles to the Mississippi Delta to the Bronx, reaching more than 100,000 children. \nSince 1989, Teach for America has placed more than 5,000 college graduates in such areas, and 19 have been alumni.\nKopp founded Teach For America in 1989 while she was a Princeton University senior majoring in public policy. Kopp found herself on the verge of graduating and was uninspired by the occupational opportunities available to her. She possessed a strong concern in the educational disparities existing between low-income and high-income students. \nKopp said she knew there were thousands of other college graduates also unsure about what they wanted to do, and she also knew there was a major need for good teachers in low-income areas. \nThe Teach for America program struck her as an idea for her senior thesis. \nShe said she became so passionate about the idea during her research she wanted to pursue it. \nKopp began the arduous process of getting various company executives to support and fund her idea. She said the biggest problem people had with her proposal was no one believed college graduates, especially ones from prestigious universities, would teach in such a program. But Kopp said she believed otherwise, and she was right. \nKopp talked about the qualities successful teachers possess.\n"It's not magic, and it's not about charisma, "Kopp said. Being a successful teacher in difficult conditions requires having a "big idea" and being clear about what goals they want students to reach. She said the most successful teachers hold a "sense of urgency that is literally palpable." \nKopp said she has gained an immense amount of knowledge during the past decade since starting Teach For America. The most important piece of wisdom Kopp said she learned from watching the many success stories in her program is "I've seen not only a belief that it should happen, but an absolute conviction that it can happen." \nTime recognized her in 1994 as one of the "40 most promising leaders under 40." \nKyle Waide, director of public relations at Teach for America and a former teacher who worked in Compton, Calif., said Teach for America has two goals. \nThe first goal is to build a core of exceptional teachers, he said. The second is to address achievement gaps in the U.S. educational system.\nWaide said there are many good reasons to join the program.\nHe said the first is that teaching is one of the few jobs a person can have immediately after college where one holds a leadership position. The second reason is there are few jobs right after college that allow people to impact children's lives that teaching allows, Waide said.\nNew corps members participate in an intensive five-week training program that teaches them educational theory under the guidance of veteran Teach for America educators.\nThe graduates then travel to their respective communities, and the school districts there hire and pay them regular beginning teacher salaries. Waide said 60 percent of Teach for America alumni stay beyond their two-year teaching commitment.\nWaide said safety should not deter graduates from becoming a teacher, and that teachers become part of the community they are living in. \n"Local offices do provide you with help in finding a safe place to live," Rich Nourie, said School of Public and Environmental Affairs coordinator of graduate student recruitment. "I've never heard of anyone having problems with where they've lived." \nGraduate students who participate in Teach for America receive six credit hours.\nWhile some alumni continue to teach, many others have careers in a variety of fields. But all continue as lifelong teachers striving for educational excellence for children. \n"The whole emphasis of this school in our teaching and in our research is to somehow have an impact on the quality of life around the world," Sandra Bate, SPEA director of communications and marketing, said. "Programs like this give our students incredible opportunities to do this"